China wants to ban VPNs in 2018 strengthening its ‘Great Firewall’

An abstract of data moving in a tunnel
(Image credit: Pixabay)

The Chinese government has reportedly ordered telecoms companies to outright ban the use of VPNs in the country as of next year.

According to Bloomberg, which has the usual inside sources – who asked not to be named for talking about ‘private directives’ – the government has ordered the three main state-run telecoms outfits (including China Mobile) to block all access to VPNs with a deadline of the beginning of February 2018.

That’s obviously something of a killer blow for those who are looking to circumvent the country’s so-called Great Firewall, in order to access the global web at large (and sites such as Facebook). A VPN connection was one of the main routes to bypassing government censorship.

This particular screw was already being tightened earlier this month, with the recent news that a popular Chinese VPN company, GreenVPN, had been closed down by the authorities.

Of course, we can’t be sure that this total ban will actually go ahead, as this is still effectively speculation at this point. But if it does, it’ll be very interesting to see whether Chinese authorities are targeting individual users, or will also block businesses from accessing VPNs.

  • Make the switch to the more-secure-than-ever Windows 10

Business fallout

If the latter, that could be damaging to China in terms of organisations being put off basing their operations in a country where they’re are unable to access the worldwide web, or services provided by it.

Jake Parker, VP of the US-China Business Council, told Bloomberg that: “VPNs are incredibly important for companies trying to access global services outside of China.”

He added: “In the past, any effort to cut off internal corporate VPNs has been enough to make a company think about closing or reducing operations in China. It’s that big a deal.”

We’ll just have to see how this one unfolds. Meanwhile, if you are visiting the country in the near future, you might want to take a look at our roundup of best VPNs for China. Although come next year, there may be no VPNs – best or otherwise – operating in China.

Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - 'I Know What You Did Last Supper' - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).

Latest in VPN
A computer file surrounded by red laser beams
Cover your tracks: the risk of sending unencrypted files
Using an Amazon Fire Stick on a Smart TV
How to use a VPN with Fire Stick
Close up of PS5 DualSense controller leaning on a PS5
5 reasons your PS5 needs a VPN
Harry Halpin, CEO and co-founder of Nym Technologies, and Chelsea Manning, Nym Technlogies' security consultant, on stage at the Frontline Club in London during the NymVPN launch on March 13, 2025.
NymVPN is now live – here's everything you need to know
Tor
What is Onion over VPN?
Green background featuring laptop with connect button
I tried the "world's most secure VPN" and while it's not the VPN you'll want, you'll need it sooner than you think
Latest in News
Google Pixel 8a in aloe green showing
Google Pixel 9a benchmark link teases the performance of the upcoming mid-ranger
Quordle on a smartphone held in a hand
Quordle hints and answers for Monday, March 17 (game #1148)
NYT Strands homescreen on a mobile phone screen, on a light blue background
NYT Strands hints and answers for Monday, March 17 (game #379)
NYT Connections homescreen on a phone, on a purple background
NYT Connections hints and answers for Monday, March 17 (game #645)
Apple iPhone 16 Pro HANDS ON
Leaked iPhone 17 dummy units may have given us our best look yet at all four models
A super close up image of the Google Gemini app in the Play Store
It's official: Google Assistant will be retired for phones this year, with Gemini taking over